WEBVTT - Fending Off Financial FOMO #311 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.560 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt, 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:24.800 and today we're discussing fending off financial fomo. If you 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:26.560 have three more fs to that, right, so we have 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.920 six fs, you'll have white. That's a that's a graphic 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.960 design joke. Okay, I don't care. I didn't get it. Like, 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:34.960 there's codes associated with colors, and if you're trying to 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.600 find a specific color, like stay with a specific brand, 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:41.320 they've got their own six digit codes for their colors, 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.199 and white is just f f F. That's now, you know, 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:47.520 not good to know, but it's fine. It's fine. Um. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.280 And I was thinking through fending off financial fomo. We 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:51.680 had three fs there. It's kind of like a tongue 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.319 twister going on a little bit. Peter Piper picked up 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.200 peck of I don't know. Yeah, that's it, some alliteration, 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:00.279 and it's what we got going on here. By the way, 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.840 I'm sure you know fomo is common parlance at this 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:04.920 point in time. But if anybody doesn't know what it means, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:06.960 it means the fear of missing out. I can't believe 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:11.640 you defined it. I had to know everybody. Okay, everybody 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.720 knows it. I think I just insulted everyone's intelligence. Yeah, 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:17.440 just a little bit, but we appreciate you being thorough. 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.200 But yeah, so before we launched into this, though, you 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:23.319 want to tell us about you. You got a great 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.600 curb aler, right, almost a curbler almost. I got a 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.760 text notification from a neighbor just after Christmas that they 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:32.840 had bought their daughter a new bed and they were 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:36.080 getting rid of her old bed. And this was like, 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.640 exactly what you're looking for. She sent me a picture, um, 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:40.600 and it was, you know, one of those I Kea 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:42.720 you gotta put together with an Alan wrench. And sometimes 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.160 when you move Ikea furniture, it doesn't last the move. 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.320 But when you're only moving in a couple of doors down, um, 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:49.440 you can be careful. And it it did great. But 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:51.920 so do I score this awesome bed for my seven 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.680 year old that she is obsessed with and that fits, um, 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:58.640 that works perfectly for in her room for a hundred bucks. Man, 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.400 My neighborhood was just sweet to put us on alert 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.160 about that. I looked it up on IKEA's website. It's 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.120 uh just under five bucks to buy that bed brand news. 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.680 That's a sweet deal fo the savings right there, man, 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:12.160 Uh and I'll say it is super solid. When I 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.240 came over to look at it, like I'm kind of 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:16.800 critical of Ikea stuff as well, and I reached up, 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:18.920 I kind of gave it a shake, and I was surprised. 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:20.400 I was like, did you like bolt this to the 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:22.480 wall or something like? It did not move at all. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:24.560 And I'm a little jealous to you, man, I think 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:26.040 that's the direction we might want to go as well, 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.440 kind of getting the girls all their beds up in 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.679 the air. And with schooling and they're you know, they're 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.480 starting to amass their own possessions. It's not just kind 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.640 of like kids toys, like they have their own little 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.919 things or journals, pens, things like that. At the in particular, 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.360 you know, she's getting older and so I could see 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:43.400 having a desk, you know, the area underneath the bed 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:45.720 being like her space, Like you can't go in there. 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:47.919 There's drawers, things like that. We don't have anything like 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:49.200 that right now. It's just kind of like a free 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:51.040 for all in their room and they all invade each 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.560 other's space. It's a problem. I will say to you're 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:56.880 just letting your neighbors know that you're open to you stuff. 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.079 You're open to hand me downs. Um, you know, they 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:00.680 just they think of us now and they'll shoot us 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.080 a text. And that's just kind of it's kind of 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.840 nice to be thought of, because there's sometimes where I'm 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.200 almost like surprised that they thought to include us, like 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.240 a really really old refrigerator, but it actually makes sense 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:12.960 because I think I have taken one of their old 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.239 refrigerators before. But it's all the old things that they're getting. Ready, 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.000 I'm like, all right, that's just trash. Okay, I don't 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:21.720 really you don't even want to know about saying, hey, buddy, 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.520 we've got a crumpled up piece of paper here for you. 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:26.119 Would you like it exactly? But for the most part 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:28.080 it works out really well. Um, you know, it's it's 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:29.560 about half and half when we say yes to the 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:31.760 to the item. But yeah, just nice to get a 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.400 sweep bunk bed at a deep discount. Absolutely. And if 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.400 you don't have neighbors, check out online and you know, 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.520 and and a lot of cities on Facebook there are 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.680 these buy nothing groups where you can exchange things for free. 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.200 You gotta you need to do some contributing as well. Uh, 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:46.840 if you're gonna you know, participate and take things for free. 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.360 But that's another great way to find free items in 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:51.240 order to to save some money, like like you guys 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:52.960 were able to do. But it's really nice when something 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.080 comes along that you're already looking for like that, for sure. 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.560 That's right, that's right. All right, let's mention the beer 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.880 that we're having on the show today. This one's called 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:05.640 Dank Daniel or Dang Dang Daniel by High Screwing Company, 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.040 and Matt apparently this was based on some sort of 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.800 meme from five years ago or video from five years ago. Dude, 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:12.520 I thought it was you. You asked. We were talking 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:13.680 about it, and I was like, I think it's like 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:15.320 a couple of years ago, and then I looked it up. 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.400 It was in way longer ago than I actually realized. Okay, 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.440 can we post the video a link to the video 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.520 in our show notes? Okay, all right, it's it's actually 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.800 it's pretty funny. It's so good. I'm glad. I finally, 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:28.440 I'm always left out of stuff like that. I don't 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.280 know why I'm not. I'm not like in tune with 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:32.599 what's going on in the cultural zeitgeist all the time. 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.120 And so yeah, catching up on stuff like that is 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:36.800 is nice. I skip out on the some of the 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.039 TV shows and instead, I guess I just watch memes 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:41.479 because I don't know all the things out there. But 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.440 for whatever reason, I'm done with the memes. But yeah, 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:46.479 I'm looking forward to sharing this beer with you, man. Uh. 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:48.480 And we'll talk about it at the end of the episode. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.200 But this episode we're talking about financial fomo. Yeah fomo, 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.920 which again means no, I'm just kidding. I won't repeat it, 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.880 but Teddy Roosevelt Matt once said, one of the great 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.479 American presidents said, comparison the thief of joy. And how 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.200 true is that, man? When we think about our own lives, 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.920 that sometimes we can be completely happy doing going on 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.560 our own merry way, and all of a sudden, something 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.200 happening somewhere else in the world or in our neighborhood 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.839 can immediately make us feel the opposite of happy. Uh. 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.880 And it's purely because of comparison. And this episode is 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:22.960 going to focus on how to deal with fomo so 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.359 that we don't make moves that mess up our ultimate 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.160 money goals. Due to short term experiences with the world 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:30.360 around us, those feelings that it can foster can can 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.440 lead us to make some really poor money decisions, and 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.880 that's what we're hoping to avoid in our own lives 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:37.920 and hoping to help our listeners avoid, you know, as 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:39.640 we talked through it today. Yeah, a lot of folks 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.880 might feel some significant FOMO if they're seeing individual stocks 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.520 like Tesla sore this past year while you are investing 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.480 in plain old index funds right, or even target date 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.400 retirement funds, or maybe even mortgage rates you know, they've 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.800 been at all time lows, and that might make you 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.560 feel like you are the only person in your peer 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.400 group who's not buying a house right now. Uh, and 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.000 you don't want to miss out. But living life according 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.560 to that FOMO could cause you to speculate and maybe 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.479 buy bitcoin because others have seen success, or rushing the 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.840 purchase maybe of a home just to secure that low 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.560 andgest rate when you aren't actually ready to own a home, 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.880 you know, either financially or for a number of other reasons. 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.799 We don't want to let fomo dictate our personal finances. 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:23.839 Fomo can cause us to put the cart before the horse, 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:25.640 can cause us to do something in the wrong order, 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.760 or just do something ill advised altogether. Right, And let's 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.960 talk to fomo is often based on false assumptions of 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:36.560 what is actually happening around us. Everyone else isn't actually 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:38.599 buy a home while you're the only person sitting on 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:40.560 the sidelines. That's just what's going through your brain. It 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.440 might feel like you are, or anecdotally that might be true, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:45.120 like you might know somebody or a couple of folks 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.440 who are doing that, but statistically that's not true. Everybody 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.120 isn't doing that, right. It's just like when you flip 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.040 through your Instagram feed and you see like three your 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:52.760 friends in their bathing suit, you know, at the beach, 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.000 You're like, everybody's there and I'm not. It's like, not everybody. 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.080 And maybe some of those pictures from We're from weeks ago, 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.360 who knows. But yeah, the amount of store reads that 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.960 were written about like Tesla millionaires, right, there were certainly 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:05.760 a few people that made a lot of money investing 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.640 in Tesla. But do you actually know any of them? 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.320 Probably not? And if you if you do know one, um, 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.200 can you name two? Like do you know? I know? 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.120 Maybe too? That's it. I don't. I don't even know too. 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:19.560 I know one friend who made like grand and I'm 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:23.400 super happy for him, But also, no, that's not the norm, right, Uh. 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.760 And so even more key, have those friends who have 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.440 done well and something like that ever talked to you 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.640 about money that they've lost investing in other stocks, investing 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.760 in other arenas. It's kind of like the gambler detailing 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.760 his or her most amazing day at the table playing craps, 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.440 but yet they've lost a fortune over the years. They 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.000 had that one glorious night, but when it comes down 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.200 to it, most of the time they're actually losing money. 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:47.640 And I feel like fomo matt is often fueled by 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.560 cherry pick sample size. It's people choosing which things they 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.200 want to relay the biggest successes they've had, and they're 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.840 leaving out all the other failures. And it prevents a 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.000 shiny look to something that under the surface is much 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.920 more sinister. That's right, But so why does fomo seem 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.400 more prevalent today? You know, the whole notion that you're 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.520 missing out on something important has become more pronounced, I 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.000 think in recent years. Uh. And it's it's worth talking 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.880 about how pomo has grown in scale and scope so 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.720 that we can begin to combat it. So the first 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:18.800 reason that we want to point to is just the 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.920 twenty four our news cycle. You know that certainly plays 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.320 a major role in the rise of FOMO in our 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.240 collective anxiety. Uh. The amount of information that gets presented 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.840 to us every single day has shot through the roof. 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.200 We took in five times the amount of information that 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.760 people encountered in and I would venture to say that 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.199 it would be even more to day with the advent 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.679 of you know how prevalent our smartphones are in our 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.040 day to day lives. But bottom line, our generation has 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.199 just been exposed to way more information, way more news 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.200 uh than previous generations. And you know, the thing is, 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.320 we're not all that great at processing these massive amounts 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:58.200 of information on a daily basis. Yes, it's information overload, 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.840 and we don't know how to determine what's important, what's meaningful, 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:03.880 from what's not. And that lack of being able to 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.280 filter things well when that much is coming out us, 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:08.959 when we're essentially drinking from a fire hose, can make 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.040 it hard to make the right decisions, especially when it 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.679 comes to our money. Another reason why FOLMO seems more 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.600 prevalent today is of course the culprit that everyone points 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:19.880 to social media, and that that's another part of the 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.520 reason we're encountering way too much information. We're encountering so 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:27.480 much information than prior generations Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram. Now, man, 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.080 it's not just pictures anymore. People got along soliloquy to 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.760 write underneath that picture, and so we're confronted with and 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.560 we're forced to dissect everyone's opinion. And just to be honest, 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.599 there are a lot of lamb opinions out there. And 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:43.400 let's not forget to YouTube. We're apparently users are uploading 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.080 five minutes of content every single minute. I mean, that's 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.560 a lot of content out there. Yeah, more content being 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.040 uploaded than any human being could watch in their entire lifetime. Um. 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.440 And that's a lot of content that can distract and 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.520 overload your faculties. Um. And I think that can actually 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.720 just heighten the sense of fomo that we feel in 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.719 our everyday lives. Yeah, and you just mentioned Instagram too, 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.400 as far as like the long essays written underneath the 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.920 actual images. But like, let's not discount the images themselves. 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:13.240 You know, it's not just social media where we're kind 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.600 of writing, like sharing our thoughts on a personal blog 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.120 or things like that. But dude, images are really really 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.600 powerful you know the example you gave earlier talking about 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:22.720 folks hanging out at the beach. You know, when we 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.800 see these images of people's you know, possessions or what 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.040 they're doing, it can have a pretty big impact on 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:31.400 our psyche. Uh and hopefully it doesn't have an impact 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.160 on our money, but it can. You know, like you 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.760 feel a certain way if you see a friend, um, 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.000 you know, post a picture of their new tesla, or 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.319 you see somebody on a vacation, because experiences are something 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.840 that we value these days as well. Obviously we're not 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:47.120 traveling as much, but hopefully we will be soon. But 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.800 let's not discount the ability of just images to to 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.240 influence our decisions as well. Can I say to In 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.160 recent years, I've just kind of stopped posting um really 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.240 anywhere is in particular on Facebook, I haven't posted in 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.920 probably years. And Instagram I post maybe twice a year, 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:03.439 and it's just a couple of pictures that I want 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.400 to remember in like a extremely curated feed. But part 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.280 of that was seeing how other people react to the 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.559 images that that are posted, seeing how I felt sometimes 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:15.920 seeing some of the images around as I scrolled through 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:17.559 my feed, and I was like, what do I want 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:19.160 to put out there in the world. Um, And I 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.040 think ultimately I decided and I wanted to put out 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.280 just less stuffy. Yeah, it's certainly weird. I mean the 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.320 relationship we have with Instagram, social media things that project 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:29.880 something when we know that it's not true. But at 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:31.360 the same time, like, I don't want to be one 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:33.920 of those people that that states like, oh, by the way, 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.320 this is just the highlight reel. It's like, well, like, yeah, 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.600 I I get that, like that's how we treat it. 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.480 But at the same time, it's weird to continue to 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:43.400 do that when we know it does have an impact 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.760 on folks. Folks want to put that disclaimer out there. 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:47.280 But at the same time, I think we are I 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:49.440 don't know, maybe wising up a little bit with how 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.600 we perceive and how we use social media ourselves. Um. 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:54.480 But you know, another thing to kind of think through 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.560 is who are the ones that are participating in this, 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.560 you know, different types of social media. Who is susceptible 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:04.640 to FOMO basically, and statistics certainly point towards younger folks 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:08.680 who have grown up being constantly connected as having more 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.600 anxiety in general and an increase of uh you know 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.200 in that fear of missing out. But it isn't just 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.000 the youngest folks in our society. People who consider themselves 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.760 news junkies obviously, and even social extroverts are at higher 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.360 risk for feeling FOMO as well. So a lot of 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.920 it kind of does come down to your individual personality 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.640 that in addition to your generation. Man, I'm extrovert, as 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.559 you know, Matt. And when I was younger, and I 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.400 would hear like some people got together on on Thursday 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:36.800 and I wasn't there. I was like, I would, I 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:38.920 would get that pomo, but it didn't feel the same 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.560 because you didn't necessarily see the pictures um on social 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:43.880 media and so you just kind of heard about it 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.280 and then it left your mind really quickly after that. 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:48.720 But now it's got this like stickability that makes the 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.160 pomo I think worse for a lot of people. So 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:52.800 I don't know, I guess I just gotta say I'm 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.760 thankful that I grew up in an era where we 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.640 didn't have internet at least for a portion of our youth, 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.360 and then we're dial up. Internet was kind of the thing, 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.280 you know, you remember the sound to try to get 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.840 on and then when you when your family members would 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:06.200 pick up the phone and you got kicked off and 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:08.840 you're like, up the phone, what do you do? Like? Um? 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:10.640 And I think just even growing up in an era 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:12.760 where my first cell phone wasn't connected to the internet, 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.320 we're the only thing you could actually do on it 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.280 that was fun was play snake. Um. Like, there's something 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.400 that like sets you up for a better life than that. 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.480 I feel bad for the kids these days that are 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.000 essentially you know, on Instagram or Twitter or on social media. 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.360 Their whole lives kind of revolve around virtual interactions and 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:31.080 that has some difficulties associated with it. But here on 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.000 the show, you know, we we specifically like to talk 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.520 about money, of course, and uh, fomo impacts our psyche 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:38.600 as we've talked about a little bit in this segment, 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:40.719 but it also affects our money too, and we want 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.079 to get into some of the specifics of how that 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.160 works and the impact that fomo has in that arena. 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:57.880 Right after this break and so we're back from the 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.200 break and I was just actually during the break, I 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.720 was thinking about how like when when do a lot 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.040 of people kind of catch up on social media at night, 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.160 you know, like right before they go to bed. Uh, 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:08.800 you know he's like, Okay, I haven't been on all day, 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.040 or it's been several hours and or have been on 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.839 eighty two times today, but I'm gonna do it again. Yeah. 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:16.559 But like the ability for us to scroll through and 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.440 look at what other people are doing, what they're buying, 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.760 what they're purchasing. Could you imagine like, Okay, you're getting 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:22.200 ready to go to bed, but then you're gonna jump 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:23.720 in the car real quick and make a round of 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.760 all of your friends. Obviously it's not possible because we've 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.280 got friends obviously in other cities as well, But like, 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:31.760 what would that do to you mentally? Like, no wonder 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.640 people have anxiety, No wonder we have difficulties sleeping, you 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.880 know for folks who are on their phones on social media, um, 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:39.960 you know, right before bed. It's just kind of mind 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:41.720 blowing to think through what that would actually look like. 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.280 If we didn't have that technology, it wouldn't be possible, 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:48.000 but be it would be ridiculous. You know. Um, just 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:49.640 a little thought I had. But like you said, let's 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.120 talk about it from like the standpoint of money, right. Uh, 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.440 we're also seeing a major dose of fomo when it 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.120 comes to our personal finances, and so let's let's talk 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.240 about how the you know, fomo phenomenon has translate to 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:04.440 the temptation to handle our money with the same reactionary behavior. 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.600 You know, that Teddy Roosevelt quote you quoted earlier about 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:11.040 comparison being the thief of joy is totally true. But 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.520 in the world of personal finance, comparison can be the 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:17.520 enemy of attaining our investing in savings goals. You know, 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.360 it's the keeping up of the joneses and the treat 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:23.520 yourself mentality that caused us to put too much emphasis 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:25.840 on the here now, and it harms our ability to 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.720 delay gratification that would lead to our own future. Good. Yeah, 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.320 and comparing things like we talked about with the cherry 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.840 picking aspect, it's it's not always an accurate picture you're getting. 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.760 The interesting thing about comparing our financial lives with with 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.320 those of others is that you know, what shape our 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.440 personal finances are actually in is pretty dang hidden from 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.040 everybody else, Right, you don't actually know. You can't actually 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.040 see what my personal finances look like. You can only 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:52.640 see what I'm projecting to the world. So what we see, 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:54.760 at least in some degree is is the spending that 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.200 takes place in the lives of those around us, not 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.680 the saving and investing habits of them, the new car, 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:02.960 the expensive vacation, or the private school education for the kids, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.160 or what you're seeing your friends spending their money on. 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:07.920 But you don't see is what's happening behind that spending 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.680 or your friends or coworkers or loved ones paying in 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.160 cash or are they taking on a boatload of debt 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:16.800 in order to finance those purchases, and is it keeping 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:18.640 them up at night and causing them a bunch of stress, 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.640 Because that's the case. Comparison in this case can cause 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.560 you to make faulty assumptions that then mess up your 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:26.920 own money situation. Well, if that person can afford it, 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:28.240 you know, they're at a job that you know, I 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:29.760 bet they make about as much as I do. I 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.960 guess I can afford that too. Well, those things don't 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.480 necessarily correlate, and you're not getting the full picture because 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.040 you're only seeing a small portion of kind of their 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.720 personal finance decisions. Yeah, man, you know, when what's taking 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.320 place in the market becomes sort of like this national obsession, 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.720 we should all be worried that FOMO is setting in. 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:46.720 I know, any one of your favorite money writers, Christine 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:50.000 Ben's over there at morning Star. She tweeted recently about 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.640 some of the warning signs that are taking place with 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.360 how investors are acting. People are treating individual stocks um 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:00.400 like bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and just the market in general as 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.880 a high interest savings account that never goes down. But 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.280 history shows us that the market will experience turbulence, you know. 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.240 Uh so don't let POMO change your investing plan and 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.760 cause you to to make risky your bets. Yeah, man, 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.400 I think that's an extreme. Part of what's currently happening 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:18.320 in the financial FOMO atmosphere is that people are seeing 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.680 just an extreme rising stock prices. They're seeing certain individual 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.520 stocks just leaping off the charts um. They're seeing crazy 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.720 things like bitcoin just shooting up to to record highs, 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:30.760 and they're like, what am I doing with my life? 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.240 And why is my money not invested in that way? 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.399 It makes them rethink their plan. Am I doing things wrong? 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.440 Because this all this is happening around me and I'm 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.000 not involved. But let's talk about those riskier bets and 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.520 what FOMO can lead you to do when it majorly 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.920 sets in. Well, it can lead you to a rational 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.680 decision making, like let's say, jumping into individual stock investing 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.240 because you want to ride the wave that others are on. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.960 That has led to financial ruin in some cases, Like 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:58.760 I don't know if on the show we've ever talked 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.960 about the young Robin investor who killed himself after seeing 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.639 a massive negative balance that was in the summer of 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.399 last year. I think, but investing in ways that you 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:09.679 don't know much about can take a massive toll on 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.960 your finances and your personal health to those rational decisions 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.080